The pharmacology and treatment of pain has a very long and tumultuous history. Since the infancy of the use of opium poppy extracts to treat pain around 3500 BC, the search for treatments that provide effective relief from acute and chronic pain has continued to grow at an extraordinary rate. Today, pain still remains a significant public health issue with two-thirds of patients achieving little to no pain relief from the myriad of currently available pharmacotherapy and dosing regimens. The use of opioid (i.e., opiate) pharmacotherapy produces several rewarding and reinforcing side effects, which result in the drugs' diversion to abuse settings. Unfortunately, a significant side effect in attempting to improve patients' quality of life is that some become dependent to the treatments that were prescribed to help them. In recent years the misuse of opioids has risen drastically, leaving doctors and patients hesitant to treat pain to the fullest extent.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for compounds, compositions, and methods for treating pain that does not result in unwarranted dependency.